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Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath.

Duddigan, S., Hales-Henao, A., Bruce, M., Diaz, A. and Tibbett, M., 2024. Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath. Communications Earth and Environment, 5, 15.

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DOI: 10.1038/s43247-023-01176-8

Abstract

The conversion of lowland heathland to agricultural land in Europe significantly depleted soil carbon stocks. Restoring heathlands has been proposed as a mechanism to sequester soil carbon. Here we compared soil carbon in (i) agricultural pasture; (ii) native heathland and (iii) restored heathland through acidification with elemental sulfur (sulphur). After 18 years of soil acidification, soil chemical properties (pH, extractable nutrients etc.), fauna and vegetation assemblage resembled that of native heathlands. However, native heathland was found to contain more than double the soil carbon stock of restored heath, with significantly higher contents of stable soil organic matter, and restored heath soil carbon was not significantly different to the control pasture. This result, combined with supporting findings of a comprehensive literature review, has ramifications for carbon-sequestration proposals, given the urgency required for climate mitigation tools.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:2662-4435
Uncontrolled Keywords:Carbon cycle; Environmental sciences
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:39737
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:25 Apr 2024 07:45
Last Modified:25 Apr 2024 07:45

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